2015 Alfa Romeo 4C Puts Us In A Forgiving Mood
Alfa Atones For Past Sins
Remember the Alfa Romeo 8C that began the storied brand's halting return to the U.S. market? Well, forget it. With the hindsight of half a decade, that quarter-million dollar beauty looks like a cynical attempt to wrap aging hand-me-down hardware in a beautiful new wrapper -- kind of like the Crossfire did at one-seventh the price. This 4C is Alfa's make-good for such past sins, and we're promised it spearheads a lineup that will include eight cars by 2018.
If you've read anything about the 4C, it's probably been gushing, glowing hyperbole suggesting that this feathery mid-engine track-star might have been co-developed in heaven by the holy ghosts of Enzo Ferrari, Colin Chapman and some nameless, incredibly crafty bean-counter. Divine intervention on that last front was surely required to finagle a starting price of $55,195 for a car with a carbon-fiber tub constructed the slow Formula 1 way by hand-laying pre-impregnated carbon fiber sheets and autoclaving them, not the newer, more efficient Lamborghini Aventador/BMW i3 way of laying dry fiber mats in molds and injecting resin.
The aluminum subframes at either end add even more cost, and while these are somewhat offset by a few bits and pieces shared with mainstream models (like the dry twin-clutch transmission), the X-Ray view of this car looks as much like a supercar as the outer skin does. Trust me, this is as earnest, contrite, and heartfelt an atonement for past Alfa sins as we could reasonably hope for.
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